More power to the people. I had a go at two ordinary Life Like GP 38 two rail locos. While road no. 3600 was already born as a dummy, road no. 3500 was converted to one by removing the cog wheels and feeder cables inside the loco. Both are quite (but not too) heavy.

Then the useless humps were removed under the rear trucks to make room for a center-PuKo pickup shoe, respectively. Left = before and right = after, respectively:

The two dummies from below.

Road no. 3600 matches the blue and yellow war bonnet paint scheme applied to ATSF locos as of June 1972. In due time, road no. 3500 with the cheap, shrill and wrong paint mix will obtain a classic 1960s blue with yellow book ends paint scheme (with which the first GP38 batch was delivered to ATSF in June 1970).

The two SD 40 locos by Mehano received decoders, and I managed to adjust wheels and couplers, but I couldn't fit any decent pickup shoe under the six-axle trucks due to lack of space. Now Life Like dummy no. 3600 feeds them with center-Puko power. At least they can pull themselves up the hill, but I did not dare to haul a train yet. Of course riding comfort of the Mehanos does not match the one Maerklin locos offer.

As I am happy with the six-axle Life Like Proto 2000 (P2K) EMD E8 described earlier, I converted a series of P2K four-axle EMD GP30 locos, two Santa Fe and one Rio Grande loco. Rewiring and decoder installation was a routine job. Finding a solution for the chassis mounted couplers allowing operations on R1 curves was more challenging.

A Maerklin 701570 coupler gets an additional hole where the "wings" meet. Excess length cut off for avoiding interference with loco truck. The hole has the same size as the ones of the Maerklin draw bar. The Maerklin draw bar screw 753030 serves for fixing onto loco chassis. The coupler is now - like a draw bar - freely pivoting around the screw.Procedure repeated at other end.This is the one and only way to move a train through a R1 curve. The coupler moves with the curve. Only - and in my view unimportant - drawback: the coupler needs to be straightened manually before coupling.

Before obtaining a patent and starting industrial production, I will have R&D fix that via a spring mechanism, similar to the Kadee coupler box mechanism.:o)

P.S: I do not want to destroy any truck or gearbox for installing a pickup shoe. The black cable dangling from the loco is to be connected to a second dummy unit which is equipped with a pickup shoe.

Regarding the dummy with a pickup shoe I am following two separate avenues.

(a) A Maerklin EMD F7 chassis has the same dimensions as a Athearn EMD GP7 (or GP9) one. While the motor sitting in or on a motorized chassis does not fit into a sleek GP body, a dummy chassis offers an alternative. To fit an Athearn shell with its flat veranda on such a Maerklin dummy chassis, the latter needs to flattened by folding outer ledges. The GP chassis is longer than the F7 one. Therefore, 215860 couplers (having an extended neck) are mounted on each side. GP front skirt openings are widened to allow wider swings on tight R1 curves. Right before and left after cutting.Then one of the dummy trucks obtains a standard Maerklin pickup shoe to feed the motorized GP30. Here is the consist in action. The dummy is still lacking handrails.

(b) A Life Like GP38 dummy obtains a pickup shoe (see November 13 post). Again, 701570 couplers are manipulated by clipping their wings and pushing them into the existing coupler pockets. Finally, paint jobs are to be done. The Santa Fe version in the works (in the rear),The Rio Grande version in the work (in the rear).Unlike the Santa Fe, the Rio Grande did not own GP38 locos. However, they had GP40 locos with exactly the same outside dimensions, but with different engine (invisible) and therefore different roof ventilator combination (visible). We pretend that this is an early Rio Grande GP40.

One GP30 did not budge. It turned that one worm drive was blocked by hardened grease. How to fix this: After weight removal - left side. Pry off Worm drive cover with small screw driver.Right side with removed worm drive cover.Truck (here without wheels) and worm drive can be separated and pulled apart.Watch out to collect all lose parts, e.g. a minuscule washer.Dismantle and clean worm drive. In my case the quadratic part with the hole sitting at the extreme end - functioning as bearing - was clogged with hardened grease. It was so bad that I had to replace said bearing. Remember the minuscule washer before reassembly...

Then, one GP30 suffered from split cog wheels. How to fix this: Pry off truck side panels. Then carefully pry off bottom cover, using small screw driver. Cover removed & right wheelset pulled out...Existing wheelsets can easily be pulled apart, releasing the split cogwheels.When reassembling with replacement cogs, make sure that the latter stay in the center, leaving some "balanced" slack on both ends for the square bearings. Repeat/adjust/redo until loco runs smoothly (annoying task). At the end: success.

And to conclude the day, something more tangible. Life Like US freight cars run well on C track. Interestingly, Maerklin F7 loco couplers fit into coupler pockets of Life Like freight cars. Here is a short Life Like hopper coupled between two Maerklin ones.

Then, one GP30 suffered from split cog wheels. How to fix this: Pry off truck side panels. Then carefully pry off bottom cover, using small screw driver. ......When reassembling with replacement cogs, make sure that the latter stay in the center, leaving some "balanced" slack on both ends for the square bearings. Repeat/adjust/redo until loco runs smoothly (annoying task). At the end: success.

Hi Ak,I have owned about 20 Life Like locos of the type you are dealing with.On all, I had to replace the split axle gear (cog), which had itself been cracked.You cannot see the crack, just the loco does not behave to it's best, and clicks (jumps) along.Terrible quality and a lot of work.I had to wait 2 years for a batch of replacements to come from Walthers. Though NWSL (expensive) and Athearn (hard to get) replacements work for these.

Any chance of annotating the photo to show the split as I can't see it? Kimball has already answered my second question about how you would notice that part has split.

Thanks,Carim

Hi Carim,You cannot see the crack. As Ak says, it is hairline.The ony way to see it is to prise open each gear by using a small round piece of steel (screwdriver) through the hole, and twisting somehow.If it opens up.... there is a crack!!!!!Not worth the effort, just replace every gear on a loco that displays the symptoms..... (clicking or thumping, mildly jerky or lumpy under power).

Praise forum member JVuye aka Dr. Eisenbahn (and praise Webmaster who enabled the two of us to meet in the first place): JVuye was so kind as to adapt the wheels of my formerly 2-rail Kato Alco RS 2 by cutting grooves on his lathe so that traction tires „sink in". Much obliged !:o)

Kato Alco RS2 3-rail test run with traction tires.

Over trailing points:

Uphill:

Power pickup shoe mounted under first freight car. This is not ideal and should be rectified in due course.

Alco PA and PB: First "Aspen Gold" and silver metallic applied.And then the single black stripe added. The paint scheme is matching the ultimate looks of Rio Grande units 6001 and 6002.Decals still missing and grab irons, window panes and horns to be mounted again.

In fact there is nothing particularly difficult about this conversion except for the "leap of faith" to go and permanently disable one of the power bogies and cut the groove for tyres in the wheels of the remaining powered bogie.But the "obstacle course" and "uphill test" sequences in the video prove that a simple procedure, with a couple of simple tools and some attention to precision can give excellent results. No need to look for replacement wheels and the like. For US locos rolling stock I also have standardized on Kadee couplers. (e.g. my Märklin Challenger runs with Kadees NEM couplers #18

Leaving the original set up on all US original stock saves me the headache of trying to fit Märklin compatibles couplers.

This all process works for european prototypes too.

PS: Love the colorful NYC box car in the middle of one of my typical Western style freight manifest! Thanks again!

Jacques Vuye aka Dr.Eisenbahn Once a vandal, learned to be better and had great success!

The wheels are behaving, but traction is disappointing on ramps. I ordered Bullfrog Snot „liquid traction tyres“, hoping that the latter will improve the situation.P.S.: Being a Wild West railroad, Rio Grande’s lettering colors actually varied in all shades of yellow/gold/orange over the years.

The wheels are behaving, but traction is disappointing on ramps. I ordered Bullfrog Snot „liquid traction tyres“, hoping that the latter will improve the situation.....P.S.: Being a Wild West railroad, Rio Grande’s lettering colors actually varied in all shades of yellow/gold/orange over the years.

Well, I suppose you know how to (definitely...) fix that traction problem , don't you?

Cheers

Jacques

Jacques Vuye aka Dr.Eisenbahn Once a vandal, learned to be better and had great success!

The Rio Grande F-types wore various liveries during their tenure. The Maerklin F7 is sporting the latter day single stripe version introduced in the 1960s. I painted four units to reflect the 1950s four-stripe livery.My creation above the Maerklin one. Both versions are prototypically correct and co-existed side by side.

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